John Long (climber)

John Long
John Long with Highlands Tribes people, Papua New Guinea, 1982.
Born	July 21, 1953 Indio, California
Nationality	American
Occupation	Author

John Long (born July 21, 1953 ) is an American rock climber and author whose stories have been translated into many languages. A 1971 graduate of Upland High School in Upland, California, Long studied humanities at the University of LaVerne (graduating with departmental honors), Claremont Graduate School and Claremont School of Theology.

Long joined teenage climbers John Bachar, Rick Accomazzo, Richard Harrison, Tobin Sorenson, Robs Muir, Gib Lewis (climber), Lynn Hill, Jim Wilson, and Mike Graham as founding members of an elite group known as the "Stonemasters". As the result of the groups exploits, from the French Alps to the North Pole, combined with Long’s popular writings, the Stonemaster ethos was central in the “extreme” adventure sports culture.

While Long and the Stonemasters branched out into diverse disciplines including caving, river running and first descents, extreme skiing, big wave surfing, trans-continental traverses, BASE jumping and Himalaya alpine climbing, the original renown sprang from establishing scores of daring new rock climbs – throughout the 1970s and 80s - in Southern California and Northern Mexico, most notably at Tahquitz and Suicide Rock in Idyllwild, Joshua Tree National Park, and Yosemite Valley, all in California, and El Gran Trono Blanco, in Baja, Mexico.